Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits is a whirlwind of color, sound and magic, set in the midst of the 1970 Chilean socialist revolution. Although the novel paint a lucid portrait of Chile in tragedy, I would like to focus on the definitively transcultural and trans-historical aspects of the novel; even more so, on how Allende herself focused on the idea of ​​the foundation of humanity along with her research and experiences, rather than the periodic aspects of the novel. Allende focuses heavily on the universal themes of predetermined or free destiny, the role of the mind in reality, and the power of testimony. However, I believe that Allende herself, in presenting these themes, actually seeks to challenge the misconception of a universal human experience, since every human story and reality is different. Ultimately, through the magical and fantastical aspects that so well define his novel, Allende reveals the colorful cacophony that is our universe in tandem with our minds, and why the two make a universal human experience unattainable. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayAllende unites humanity in the human effort to question itself. Asking questions is the universal movement and pandemonium of the human quest to discover one's place in our macrocosm. The novel spends its story searching for the truth about one's place in the universe, but the reader is unaware of this until the epilogue. Ultimately Alba reflects on her role in her own destiny, discovering what is ultimately true; that every person and event is a link in a perpetual chain of history and future, and that “nothing that happens is random, everything corresponds to a destiny established before… birth” (Allende 431). He realizes that each event “{adds} another link to the chain of events that {}must complete itself” (Allende 431), and although his destiny was, perhaps, written in the stars, he declares at the novel's conclusion, “I must break this terrible chain” (Allende 432). The eternal struggle, as it may be, consists in deciding between two realities: that of a fixed and inflexible destiny, or that of a free and malleable destiny. What I believe is universal is the choice between the two. Man's awareness of his own mortality can also be complementary to this idea of ​​the decision between free will or determined destiny. Humanity is tormented by a permanent confrontation with the nature of mortality, and I feel that Allende tried to express that humanity's true struggle is deciding whether or not to succumb to a predetermined mortality. He applauds the courage to challenge the idea of ​​predestined destiny; when Clara's spirit came to Alba in the doghouse, she “appeared with the new idea that the point was not to die, since death came anyway, but to survive, which would be a miracle” (Allende 414). The reality of one's life experience is determined by how one answers questions about life and destiny. The human endeavor to answer these questions is universal, but the answers and results are not. Alba discovers that humanity is trapped in "an endless story of pain, blood, and love" (Allende 432) and that she wants to be the one to break the cycle for herself. The House of Spirits is indeed transcultural and transhistorical. through its ultimate focus on individual human realities, rather than a single universal reality. The novel does an extraordinary job of exploring the idea of ​​individual, shapeable realities through its focus on the magical and the sublime. Allende, in fact, immersed almost all her characters in an enchanting and ethereal environment where "divine good humor and strengthhidden forces of nature acted with impunity to cause a state of emergency and upheaval of the laws of physics and logic” (Allende, page 267); in other words, the boundary between possible and impossible has been abolished completely. Magic did not have to come from another world, since “magical realism is not 'the creation of imaginary beings of worlds, but the discovery of the mysterious relationship between man and his circumstances'” (Milne). In this case, I believe man's circumstances are the reality he has constructed for himself. Ultimately, Allende seeks to demonstrate that what is magical to one is reality to another. For little Alba, “who completely ignored the boundary between the human and the divine, between the possible and the impossible” (Allende 301), the levitating chairs and the spirits that roamed the halls of the Great White House on the Corner they were reality. The novel therefore explores in depth the idea that reality and consciousness are much more malleable and versatile than we think we know. Although it is rare to find episodes involving the omnipresent supernatural or a piano playing Chopin alone, the fantastic and magical aspects of the novel were meant to illustrate the vastness of individual reality. The House of Spirits encourages the omnipresent idea of ​​truth that is not universally similar, but equally different in each person. The novel did not paint a picture of universal human experience. Allende, in fact, was trying to demonstrate that there is no such thing. In the House of Spirits a reality or truth of a single human experience is a facade, for the idea of ​​a single truth is a deceptive concept and must be set aside. The fantastical aspects of the novel worked to show how chaotic and lawless the elements that make up human consciousness are. The truth, if you can call it that, is that reality and truth itself are subjective. Blanca Trueba, fleeing the “evil kingdom of the Inca” (Allende 261) and Jean de Satigny, seemed to simply erase the Count from all past, present, and future, telling Alba that “her father was a distinguished and intelligent aristocrat who was unfortunately died of fever in the northern desert” (Allende 265), inventing a new reality that will be that of Alba for many years. The novel tries to express that infinite truths exist, because truth is a construct and human experience and life depend on their respective reality. Therefore, a single human experience would be a deception. One's human experience (the life one has on mortal Earth) is different from all others and must be shared to contribute to the ever-expanding human mosaic of life in history and the future. As we learn in The House of Spirits, human testimony must be shared to exist and must be shared to alter the chain of time, because every link of every life is validated through story and testimony. This theme is overwhelmingly trans-historical: in the context of almost all of mankind's most disastrous conflicts, human testimony has borne witness. The idea of ​​bearing witness to life is the most interesting in the novel. The Trueba saga teaches that one must bear witness to one's life. Since all people's physical life realities and experiences are different, it is necessary to illustrate their realities; otherwise they cease to exist. It is possible to deny history, because history is memory, and it has already happened. The reason why Clara suggested that Alba write her testimony, while in the heart of an atrocious and brutal hell, was so that “she could one day call attention to the terrible secret she was living, so that the world could know about it. the horror that unfolded alongside the peaceful existence of those who didn't want to know... and those who could deny they were on a raft at.